United States is open to the possibility of military actions against Islamist militants in Syria 230

Posted On
Saturday, 23 August 2014 06:29

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Defence & Security News - United States

Saturday, August
23, 2014 08:30 AM

United
States is open to the possibility of military actions against Islamist militants
in Syria.

The
United States is open to the possibility of military action against Islamist
militants in Syria, a top Obama Administration official said Friday, August
22, 2014, warning that the U.S. will “do what is necessary to protect
Americans.”

Rear Adm. John
Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, fielded questions about events in the Middle
East and Ukraine on Friday, August 22, 2014.

The
Obama administration is debating a more robust intervention in Syria,
including possible American airstrikes, in a significant escalation of
its weeks-long military assault on the Islamic extremist group that has
destabilized neighboring Iraq and killed an American journalist.

While President Obama has long resisted being drawn into Syria’s
bloody civil war, officials said recent advances by the Islamic State
in Iraq and Syria had made clear that it represents a threat to the interests
of the United States and its allies.

Officials said the options include speeding up and intensifying limited
American efforts to train and arm moderate Syrian rebel forces that have
been fighting both ISIS as well as the government of President Bashar
al-Assad.

But American officials said they would also take a look at airstrikes
by fighter jets and bombers as well as potentially sending Special Operations
forces into Syria, like those who tried to rescue Mr. Foley and other
hostages on a mission in July. One possibility officials have discussed
for Iraq that could be translated to Syria would be a series of unmanned
drone strikes targeting ISIS leaders, much like those conducted in Yemen,
Somalia and Pakistan.

American operations against ISIS in Syria would expand the scope and goals
of the military intervention Mr. Obama ordered in Iraq two weeks ago.
At the time, the president said he authorized airstrikes to defend American
personnel and prevent the genocide of religious minorities threatened
by ISIS.